


Who He Chose

by Faiz



Category: Power Rangers Dino Charge
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-21
Updated: 2016-02-21
Packaged: 2018-05-22 11:59:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,904
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6078537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faiz/pseuds/Faiz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It had really pained Riley, seeing Chase get all frazzled about...a <i>girl</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. When He Chose Her

**Author's Note:**

> Of course my immediate reaction to seeing this episode with Chase getting a gf was making Riley incredibly upset. I added a second chapter to redeem the sad though because I know I couldn't possibly hurt certain people that much (you're welcome, you know who you are)
> 
> Hope you all enjoy!

Riley was pretty sure if his nails pressed any further into the palm of his hand, he’d start bleeding pretty soon. Yet somehow he couldn’t find it in himself to unclench his fists as he stared across the Dino Bite cafe where Chase was sitting with Kaylee. He couldn’t help it, they were just...they’d both been making his stomach churn and clench in horrible ways and he couldn’t even deny that he almost wanted to go over there and dump soda over the both of them. It was stupid, it was incredibly petty and Riley was well aware of that, yet the thoughts wouldn’t leave his head. 

“--iley? Riley!” A pair of fingers snapped in front of his face, and Riley was brought back out of his thoughts by a stern looking Shelby. “What are you doing? You should be taking orders!” Her face softened slightly. “...are you alright? You’ve been kind of off all day today.”

Riley shook his head quickly, pulling his notepad out of his pocket (which he noted, was covered in raptor stickers that Chase had gotten him for his birthday. He could feel his throat constrict slightly.) and he tried his best to smile naturally at Shelby. “I’m perfectly okay, don’t worry about it.” 

Shelby looked like she was about to say something, but decided against it and instead took a deep breath. “Alright, then let’s get back to work.” 

Riley nodded, turning his gaze fully away from Chase and Kaylee and focusing on getting orders from customers once again. This momentary distraction was good enough at least for now to keep his mind away from the bad thoughts that were trying to penetrate his mind. Just so long as he didn’t look at where they were sitting, he could act like nothing had changed. At least that’s what he told himself, because even has he took orders and brought them back to the kitchen, his thoughts kept straying back to the couple. 

And then he noticed the grill was unmanned. 

Chase was supposed to be there, flipping burgers and actually helping out. But he had gone off when Kaylee had arrived at the cafe. He stared at the grill with slightly widened eyes, knowing that he should do something, _anything_. But he knew that this was Chase’s fault. He brought this upon himself...and it a strange moment of illogical weakness, instead of calling someone’s attention to it...he turned away. He grabbed some drinks for customers, and just ignored it all. And he absolutely hated the swell of sick joy he got when he heard Chase scream about the grill and Kaylee’s gasp of surprise. 

And all this meant he shouldn’t have been surprised when Shelby managed to corner him later on in the base after everyone had left. (Chase being grossly happy and practically singing about how he and Kaylee were going to be going to another local museum dedicated to all things space related.) 

“Riley, something is wrong.” She pressed gently Riley on the shoulders, forcing him to sit down on some chairs. “Ivan told me that you were staring at the grill before just completely leaving it alone. That’s not like you at all Riley, that was dangerous and--”

“Illogical.” Riley finished, before sighing. “...I-I know.”

Shelby crossed her arms. “What’s going on? You can tell me, you know that.”

Riley was silent, looking everywhere except at Shelby. He wasn’t sure what to tell her, given that he still wasn’t sure he wanted to admit it to himself. So they sat their in silence, Shelby’s patience clearly starting to wear thin as she pursed her lips at Riley’s lack of reaction. Riley was starting to clenched his fists again, briefly wondering how much harder he’d have to do it to finally draw blood. 

“...It’s Chase, isn’t it?” Shelby finally said, and Riley snapped his head up to look at her. She nodded her head slightly. “It is.”

“...How did you know?”

“You aren’t particularly subtle sometimes, Riley. When we were all teasing Chase about his failed dates and how crazy he was about Kaylee, I noticed you looked pretty upset the whole time. I don’t think I really picked it up at the time, but you were completely zoned out staring at Chase and Kaylee earlier today too.”

“And you didn’t assume I liked Kaylee or anything?” Riley wondered aloud.

Shelby laughed a little and shook her head. “You don’t seem the type who would get a crush on anyone you didn’t really know well. You barely know Kaylee...so that left Chase.”

Riley felt heat rising from his neck up to his cheeks. “Yeah well...bit late for it to be out in the open now isn’t it?” He could feel tears starting to prick the corners of his eyes, and he angrily scrubbed them away.

He almost jumped a bit when Shelby wrapped her arms around him and gave him a tight hug, and she gently nudge his head to lie on her shoulder. “It’s alright Riley, you’ll be alright.” 

“It doesn’t feel like it.” Riley sniffled, turning a bit to fully accept Shelby’s embrace. 

“You’ve only just barely turned 18. It’s definitely not the end of the world, kid.” 

“You’re barely a year older than me…” Riley mumbled into her shoulder, feeling her start to rub circles on his back.

Shelby smiled. “You’re still the baby of the group.”

Riley wasn't sure how long they stayed like that, just sitting in the base hugging each other like his life depended on it, like he was going to slip away from them when he let go. But at some point they must have finally broken apart and Shelby wiped away the last of the remaining tears on his face.

“Y’know...I know a guy, I met him online a while ago on a Dino forum. Really sweet, lived in Europe for some time. But he messaged me a like two weeks ago saying he was stopping by Amber Beach for while…”

Riley stared dumbfounded at her for a few moments before he couldn't help it, he giggled. “Shelby Watkins...Are you trying to hook me up with one of your Dino buddies?”

Shelby grinned awkwardly. “Too soon?”

“A little bit, yeah.” Riley admitted.

“I could still give you his number you know, if you ever decide--”

Both of them jumped a bit when the doors to the base opened suddenly, and Riley tensed visibly when Chase suddenly walked in. The black ranger paused, looking at them in confusion. “I kind of forgot my wallet here in the base...Am I interrupting something?”

Both Shelby and Riley shook their heads, and Shelby put a hand on Riley’s stiff shoulder as they watched Chase search around the base.

And without thinking it through once again, Riley suddenly spoke up. “You know what, give me his number.”

He saw Chase pause with his wallet finally in hand, and saw him glance up at them briefly.

“Riley.” Shelby hissed under her breath. “What are you doing?” But Riley kept looking at her before she finally relented, and spoke in her normal tone of voice. “Alright, I'll give you Ian’s number. Maybe you two can hang out when he stops by.” She accepted Riley’s phone when he handed it to her, hesitating slightly before she started to punch in her friend’s number.

Chase was now looking between the both of them. “...Who’s Ian?” He asked.

“A friend of mine.” Shelby mumbled. “Thought Riley would be interested in him, that’s all.”

Chase blinked. “Interested? As in…?” Well, on the very dim bright side, Chase didn’t recoil immediately. No, he just seemed a bit confused.

“Shouldn’t you be leaving?” Riley cut in. “Your...girlfriend is probably waiting for you.”

Chase nodded suddenly. “O-oh yeah. I should go. See you two later!” He turned quickly and was out of there before they knew it.

“Riley. You shouldn’t have done that.” Shelby shoved him slightly.

“What’s done is done.” Riley looked down at the name now in his contacts, his hands visibly starting to shake slightly.

“Riley…” 

He stood up and smiled at Shelby, though he knew that it probably looked as forced as it felt. “I should really get going Shelby. Thanks for sticking around to talk to me.”

“No problem…”

It was Riley’s turn to walk out of the base, though the thought of Chase was still burned into his mind. He was probably off with Kaylee now, laughing about the fact that Chase was absent minded enough to leave his wallet at the museum. Maybe they’d be holding hands, or Chase has his arm around her shoulders...Riley shook his head before looking down at his phone again. He wasn’t sure what to do. There was only one thing that was concrete in his mind, and that was what Chase’s decision had been.

He chose her.


	2. When He Chose Me

_A few months later…_

Riley couldn’t help but smile at the picture he was looking at. He had basically holed himself up in a corner booth now that he was finally on break, because he had gotten the letter that morning but hadn’t had the time to look at it until that moment. The picture was of Ian, an easy-going but flirty smile on his lips and his arm slung over the shoulders of another young man who looked a lot less enthused than his older companion. But Riley could just barely see a smile playing on his lips, and he knew that despite his serious appearance, he was happy to be there.

“What’re you looking at Riley?” Shelby slid into the booth across from him, picking up the letter that Riley had left on the table.

“It’s from Ian. He’s in Argentina right now doing research but he brought his boyfriend along with him this time.”

“That’s sweet!” Shelby smiled, taking the picture from Riley. “So it all ended with no hard feelings then?” 

“Mm, yeah. We both thought we were better off as friends, and he definitely had his eyes on the other guy.” Riley laughed. “Though he admitted he may have a problem, because as it turns out he also has a thing for green and raptors.” 

Shelby giggled along with him. “Seems just like Ian. He has a type, it’s oddly specific, but it’s there alright.”

Riley glanced over at the back of the Dino Bite as Shelby spoke, not being able to help looking at the black ranger who for once, was managing the grill with fairly good concentration. To the point where it was almost strange, given that for the quite awhile Chase seemed to be more absent minded than ever, all his time being focused on texting his girlfriend or flirting with her whenever she stopped by the museum to visit (which was very often.) Riley was just happy that during that time he was distracted himself by the unexpected inclusion of Ian coming to visit for awhile. He hadn’t expected to like the other man very much, but he was much more of a smooth talker and seemed to be interested in what Riley had to say.

Though he had to admit, sometimes he still got the occasional pangs of jealousy and sadness whenever he saw Chase and Kaylee cuddled up near each other during Chase’s breaks. Maybe it was something that Ian had noticed (and maybe he even felt the same way, because of his own growing interest in someone else) and they had broken up. Though for that matter Riley wasn’t exactly sure if they had been really ‘together’ in the first place. There was some kissing here and there, they went out on casual dates, and lord knows Ian had gotten him enough roses to fill an entire bedroom. But it never felt like they were _really_ into it. So there had been no hard feelings when they stayed friends. They still texted and called often, and Shelby had often expressed joking jealousy saying ‘you took my dino buddy away from me!’ whenever Riley mentioned Ian in conversation.

But these days...Riley was sure he hadn’t seen Kaylee in weeks. He had seen Chase distracted on his phone a few times, but half of those times were because he was playing a game and not texting anyone. And now even today, he wasn’t sure he’d even seen Chase pull out his phone that day. Riley wasn’t sure he could even ask though, it seemed too intrusive for him to ask what was going on between Chase and his girlfriend. 

But just his luck, it seemed someone else was going to do it for him. Because while he was in the back washing some dishes, Tyler had decided to be the one to bring up the question that was currently burning in Riley’s mind. 

 

“Hey, what happened with Kaylee? I haven’t seen her around in awhile.” Tyler asked casually, waiting for Chase to finish the orders.

“Oh yeah...She moved away.”

Tyler’s eyebrows rose. “Oh really? Where to?”

“Japan. There’s some specialized school there about space and they have tests to be put into an Astronaut training program. She said she always wanted to be an astronaut so when she got the chance, she went.”

“Wow, that’s awesome! I’m sure she’ll do great.” Tyler thought for a moment. “So...are you two…?”

Chase shook his head. “Nah. We sort of decided that long distance wasn’t the right thing for us so we broke up. But no hard feelings, we were both okay with it.”

Riley had stopped washing dishes. So they had really broken up...He felt a bit bad for feeling so happy about it, because even then all that it would bring him was a renewed need to pine over someone he wasn’t even sure he could have. He sighed and quickly finished the dishes, and while he was drying his hands he turned around to see Chase looking at him intently.

“...Something wrong?” Riley asked.

Chase snapped out of it before shaking his head. “Oh, no. I’m alright.”

Riley nodded slowly, before digging into his pocket to retrieve his notepad so he could start taking orders again. But Chase suddenly reached out to stop him as he passed by. “Chase?”

“You get off in like an hour, right? Can you meet me in the base for something?”

“Okay…”

Needless to say, Riley felt like a nervous wreck after that. He wrote down order wrongs at least 3 times and had to profusely apologize to the patrons for messing up and getting their order corrected. His palms were so sweaty as he made his way towards the base where Chase was already waiting for him, leaning against one of the many crates that littered the base. Chase looked up at him and nearly grinned, before stopping himself and trying to put on a slightly more serious expression.

“What did you want to talk about Chase?” Riley asked.

“I...umm...how do I put this…” Chase removed his hat to run his fingers through his dark brown hair. “You’re...into guys? Yeah?”

Riley looked at him in confused. “...Yes? Yeah. I mean, I am. Gay.”

Chase nodded. “Alright...yep.” He put his hat back on, turning it backwards like he always did. 

Then silence.

“...Is that all?” Riley asked, waving his hand in front of Chase’s face. 

“N-no! No, that wasn’t all I just...Aren’t you still with Ian?”

Riley shook his head. “We broke up like a month ago.” 

“Oh.” Chase looked away from Riley.

Well, this was awkward. He wasn’t even sure what Chase was trying to get from him, and it didn’t help that Chase was basically looking over Riley’s shoulder instead of actually looking at him directly. He was this close to walking out, berating himself for even getting his hopes even a sliver up because it just seemed like Chase wanted to confirm Riley’s sexuality and that’s it.

“...Do you want to go eat somewhere? With me? Like...in a restaurant. A Denny’s. Or something.”

Riley stared at him. “...What?”

Chase shook his head. “Is this weird? Is it too weird?”

“Are you asking me out?” Riley’s eyes widened in surprise. “You’re...serious?”

Chase nodded. “I’m sorry. But I just sort of figured...I dunno. Things got weird after I saw you and Shelby in the base a couple of months ago. First it was just seeing you two really close together and then just...Hearing about this Ian guy. I felt weird. Really weird. And then seeing him around you when he was here made me feel weirder.”

“Chase Randall, you are really bad about feelings aren’t you?” Riley asked, but with a smile playing across his face.

“...Am I really?” Chase asked in embarrassment. His cheeks were bright red at this point.

“So much for being a smooth talker, though I should have guessed you weren’t with all your failed dates before.”

“So...is that a…?” Chase trailed off, looking at Riley with hope in his eyes.

“Yes.” And once again Riley did something without thinking, but this time far nicer than all the other times he had done it. He leaned forward and kissed Chase lightly on the cheek. “I’d love to go out to eat with you.”

Chase was practically beaming at him, and Riley had never felt happier than he had in that moment.

This time, Chase had chosen him.

**Author's Note:**

> I have no clue why my immediate choice of 'temp love interest for Riley' is always just Ian. I know there's Burt, but imo it didn't fit the context of this fic. So Riley gets a different black ranger :P


End file.
